The present invention has essentially for a subject matter a damping device adapted to be mounted for example on a height corrector of an automative vehicle equipped with a hydropneumatic suspension.
It is known that the vehicles equipped with a hydropneumatic suspension are provided on each axle with a height corrector allowing the trim of the vehicle to be restored according to load. Such a height corrector is composed generally of a hydraulic valve, preferably a slide valve, adapted to connect the suspension jacks either to a source of pressure or to a tank according to the vehicle load. Means responsive to the height of the axle are generally provided to control the slide of the valve.
To avoid untimely action of the height corrector during movement of the suspension, retarding means are generally provided to cause the height corrector to act only in case of a long-time variation of the vehicle trim. Such retarding means are generally so arranged that the displacement of the height corrector slide is accompanied by a flow of hydraulic fluid through a damping device.
More precisely, the height corrector includes two chambers with a movable or deformable wall co-operating with the corrector slide so that the displacement of the slide in one direction or the other is accompanied by variations in volumes of both chambers which are both connected to a hydraulic fluid tank through the medium of a circuit in which is mounted the said damping device, which of course allows free fluid communication in both directions between the tank and both chambers. Otherwise stated, one of the two chambers can suck the liquid while the other is discharging it, it being understood that the sucked and discharged volumes are not necessarily equal.